Shank-stiffener



w. H. FOSS. SHANK STIFFENER.

- APPLICATION FILED .FAN- 27,1919.

Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

Fig.3.

inventor. Wu\\uce H. Foss UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIcE.

WALLACE H. FOSS, 0F CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO W. H. FOSS 00., INC., OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

SHANK- STIIEFENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. *7, 1920.

Application filed January 27, 1919. Serial No. 273,286.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, WALLACE H. Foss, a

citizen of the United States, and resident of Cambridge, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Shank-Stiffeners, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

' This invention relates to shank stiffeners for boots and shoes of the type disclosed in my prior Patent N 0. 1,261,917 granted April 9, 1918.

In this type of shank stiffener the body portion is formed of a flexible leather board or similar suitable material pressed into the required shape and provided on its upper face with a longitudinally extending groove and in this groove is mounted a stiff resilient wire having spatuliform ends.

Usually the entire device, both the body material and the wire, is curved longitudinally to present a convex upper face.

The object of the present invention is to present a shank stiffener of this type so constructed that when it is in place in the reboot or shoe structure its upper surface will be substantially flat transversely so as to fit snugly and evenly against the surface of the inner-sole and prevent the wire from forming or tending to form a ridge in the innersole.

The object of the present invention is further to present a shank stiffener of this type which will fit the bottom of the last I more perfectly during the manufacture of the boot or shoe and which will not tend under the heavy pressure of the beating out or leveling process to produce a ridge in the inner-sole.

The object of the present invention is further to present a shank stiffener of this type of a minimum thickness.

The object of the present invention is further to present a shank stiffener of this type in which one of the spatuliform ends of the wire extends beyond one end of the body material of the stiffener so that this projecting end of the wire may be placed under the heel of the boot or shoe as for example where a wooden heel is used or where additional reinforcement under the heel is desired.

These objects are secured by forming the wire portion of the shank stifiener with a transversely flat upper surface so that when the stiffener is in place and under pressure the flat upper surface of the body material and of the wire will be in substantial alinement and further by causing one spatuliform end of the wire of the stiffener to proj ect beyond one end of the body material.

The features and objects of the invention will appear more fully from the accompanying description and drawings and will be particularly pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shank stiffener embodying the invention,

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section on the line 22 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 33 of Fig. 1, and,

Fig. 4 is a plan view of another form of shank stiffener embodying the invention.

The body portion 1 of the shank stiffener may be formed of leatherboard or any other suitable material having similar characteristics. This body portion preferably is curved longitudinally to conform to the shank and presents a convex upper surface 2 which is substantially fiat transversely as is illustrated in Fig. 3. This body portion is provided with a longitudinally extending groove 3 in its upper convex surface. When but a single groove, as is usual, is employed this groove is situated centrally of the body made from relatively stiff metal wire having or formed into a cross section such as illustrated in Fig. 3, that is to say, the wire presents a transversely fiat upper surface 5 while the remainder of the surface of its main section is preferably cylindrical.

This wire is bent longitudinally to conform to the curvature of the body portion 1 and it is embedded in the groove 3 and held in place in any suitable way.

The ends of the wire as in my prior patent above referred to are formed into flattened or spatuliform portions 6 and 7 and these end portions are so shaped as to lie fiat against the face of the body portion. This is due to the fact that these flattened portions are thinnest at the extremity and have a gradually increasing thickness toward the central or body section of the wire and also have a progressively increasing width away from thebody portion of the wire.

The wire is preferably held in place by staples 8 so positioned that they embrace the wire 4 at or adjacent to the points where the body section and the. spatuliformends of the wire merge and these staples are so shaped that the sides of the legs thereof closely embrace the wire. Thus the wire is held in proper position longitudinally while at the same time any relative movement of the wire and body material which results.

of a ridge or indentation being formed by the wire in the inner-sole, even when a cheap or light weight grade of inner-sole is used.

In Fig. 4: another form of shank stiffener is shown in which the body material 9, the Wire 10' and the staples 11 are constructed and arranged substantially as above described. In addition one of the spatuliform ends 12 of the wire is extended so as to proj ect beyond one end 13 of the body material. This is preferably effected by extending or elongating the flattened or swaged end portion of the wire 12 as compared with the opposite end 14. In this construction the projectingend 12 of the wireisplaced beneath'the hee'l'of the boot or shoe when the shankstiffener is in place and thus serves as a reinforcement whlch is particularly desirable when a wooden heel is used or when an extraamount of reinforcement is for any reason desired. So far as this feature of the invention is'concerned it is obvious that it may be employed in a shank stiffener without at the same time employing the feature of the transversely flat upper surface of theupper surface with a longitudinally extending groove, a stiff resilient longitudinally curved wire having spatuliform ends,.011e of said ends projecting beyond the end of the body material and with the main part of the body of the wire located in said groove and with the other end resting against the surface of the material and means for retaining the wire in the groove and for preventing longitudinal movement thereof, whereby when the stiffener is in place the projecting spatuliform end may be located under the heel to reinforce the boot or shoe structure.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

WALLACE H. FOSS. 

